Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
I didn’t want to park right outside my sister’s shop and draw attention to myself.
Maca was holed up in the flat above with Georgia, so I parked in a car park up the road and pulled my hat down low as I walked along Brentwood High Street.
I was planning on going around the back and through the tradesman’s entrance, but as soon as I turned into the alleyway at the rear of the shops, I could see a couple of photographers lurking.
The press had no hard evidence at that point that Maca and G were back together, but the rumour mill was undoubtedly in full flow.
I ducked between some vans and then through a narrow walkway that led me back to the front of the shops and headed straight through the door of ‘Posh Frocks,’ my mum and sister’s little empire.
Everything about the place screamed high-end, and I felt a surge of pride at what Georgia and my mum had managed to achieve in our little corner of Essex. Their shop would have looked good on 5th Avenue, Knightsbridge, or Rodeo Drive.
The place was all creams and golds. A couple of French looking sofa things sat facing each other with a marble coffee table in between.
On that sat a huge vase of cream coloured roses and some other flower—lily’s I think, the type George liked.
Above that hung a large crystal chandelier, and against the wall, a huge gold framed mirror rested.
It wasn’t hanging, just leaning back against the wall.
‘Cool’ I’d thought and nodded to myself.
Again, feeling impressed with what my mum and sister had done with the place.
“Can I help you, sir?” I jumped as a woman of about thirty asked me.
As I looked up to meet her gaze, I spotted Ash over her shoulder. She was standing with another woman in front of a full-length mirror and was helping her try on hats.
Looking at her made both my heart, and my belly, feel weird, but not in a good way. In a way, that made me feel panicky. I didn’t like it.
The girls who worked here were obviously expected to dress in a certain way.
Everything about their outfits screamed money and class.
Ashley was wearing a pair of navy, wide legged trousers, a silky cream top type of thing, and a pair of heels.
Her hair was pulled back off her face and as she turned to adjust the hat on the woman’s head.
I could see that it was sort of folded in on itself at the back of her head.
Her make-up was a bit too heavy for my liking.
She looked stunning when she woke up at my place Sunday morning, and she wasn’t wearing any then.
I’d been staring at Ash for just a few seconds, but was acutely aware of the fact that I’d taken in everything about her.
I was either about to grow a vagina, or I was getting twisted up in knots by the girl. Neither option really appealed to me. I’d never considered myself a control freak, that was Len’s job, but I was hating how out of control of my feelings were around Ashley.
“Sir?” The woman asked me again.
“Oh, yeah. No, no. I’m good, thanks.” I stumbled over my words.
She stared at me with big brown eyes, as if I were a little odd, and then I caught sight of myself in the huge mirror.
I was wearing jeans, a pair of high top Chucks, and a Rolling Stones T-shirt, the one with the tongue.
Also, a Boston Red Sox cap and a pair of mirrored aviator sunglasses.
I probably wasn’t their usual kind of customer.
I cleared my throat. “Yeah, sorry. I mean, I’m just waiting to have a word with Ashley.”
She looked over to where Ash was at the till, ringing up her customer’s purchase.
“I’ll let her know you’re here,” she said and went to step away.
“No, no, that’s fine. I’ll just wait till she’s free.”
I liked watching her. Was that creepy? Oh well, fuck it. Creepy, not creepy. I was still watching her.
“Can I get you anything while you wait, sir? Tea, coffee, water?” The woman interrupted my creepy watching.
“No, thanks. I’m good.”
I looked back to Ash as she closed the sale and said goodbye to her customer.
As she held the door open for her, her eyes swung across to look over my face.
Her mouth dropped open as recognition hit.
Even through all that make-up, I could see first her cheeks, then her chest turn pink.
And then she was there, my Ash, with her sexy smile and that sparkle in her eyes, which were definitely blue that day.
She moved from the door and walked towards me.
I couldn’t move. My entire blood supply had left my brain and diverted its way down to my dick, causing the signal to move one leg in front of the other and towards the sexiest thing I’d ever seen, to get lost somewhere in my chest cavity and instead, caused my heart to feel like it was pogoing around.
“Rock Star, you came,” she said with a smile on her face.
“Not yet I didn’t, baby, but I think there’s still hope for us.” She closed her eyes for a few seconds, as if that thought turned her on as much as it did me.
“What can I do for you?” she asked before realising the many comebacks her question could present. Se blushed, licked her lips, and again closed her eyes for a second, but this time it was because she was waiting on, possibly dreading the response she would receive.
I think I came in my boxers a little bit and had to actually control the shudder that rocked my body at her words.
“So much, baby. Where should we start?” I couldn’t resist.
She tilted her head, still smiling. “What do you want, Marley?”
“You, Ashley. I want you,” I told her honestly.
“Well, I’m working right now. It’s this thing that poor people have to do so that they have a bed to sleep in at night and don’t starve to death.”
That pissed me off a little bit. Was she implying that what I did wasn’t work?
“Oh, I know what work is. I’ve done plenty of it in my time.”
She studied my face for a few seconds, but because I was still wearing sunglasses, she obviously couldn’t see my eyes. She seemed a little unsure of what to say next, which was most unlike her.
“I didn’t mean … I meant …” She trailed off and looked down at her feet. I felt like an arsehole.
I lifted her chin with two of my fingers and took off my glasses with my free hand. “I came to see if I could take you for lunch today.”
“Me?” Her eyes widened as she asked.
“No, the bird that works in the hairdresser’s next door. Yes, you. Are you free?”
She looked around to where the other woman was unpacking scarves and hanging them up and called out, “Hey Lorna, mind if I take first lunch and go now?”
“Go for it,” Lorna called out without looking up.
“Give me a minute to grab my bag,” Ashley said before dashing off towards a door.
I met Ash for lunch on Tuesday, and Wednesday too. I also took her for dinner each of those nights. Each time she insisted that I pick her up from the shop and that she got a taxi home, alone. I’d had a few theories as to why that was, but I didn’t want to embarrass her by bringing them up.
When I took her out on Wednesday night, she complained of a headache and sore throat, so she left early. I turned up at the shop to meet her for lunch on Thursday anyway, but Lorna told me that she called in sick and left a message for me to say she’d be in touch.
I didn’t think she was blowing me off, at least I’d hoped not.
We’d been having a good time. I’d done something I’d never done before—I was dating a girl.
Every time I’d tried to convince her to come back to my place, she’d refused, so we’d had dinner and done a lot of talking.
Well, I’d done most of the talking, she asked a lot of questions.
She had admitted to having no contact with her parents, but not the reasons why.
And she also told me that her brother was a drug addict and was constantly in and out of prison.
She told me that she lived with him while she was at college, but he was always stealing from her, so as soon as she was able to get a full-time job, she’d found her own place to stay.
I wasn’t sure what kind of wages my family paid her, but I knew how expensive rent was in the area we grew up in, and if she was living near the shop, she wouldn’t have been leaving herself a lot to live on once she’d paid out rent money.
This worried me. I hated the thought that she might have so little when I had so much, and I was only too happy to share it with her.
She didn’t have a car either, and I wanted to change that.
I’d known Ash less than a week, but I knew for a fact that if I was to turn up with a car for her one day, she’d probably run me over with it.
I slipped out the back doors of the shop and up the stairs to Georgia’s flat. I’ve not seen Maca since last Saturday night, and had only spoken briefly to either of them on the phone.
I pressed the intercom and stood and waited like a lemon for someone to answer.
It was George. “Yeah?”
“It’s Marls, let me in,” I replied self-consciously into the machine. I hadn’t noticed any photographers outside, but you never knew where those slippery little fuckers could be lurking.
The door opened and I walked along a short corridor.
As the front door opened, Maca was standing there, grinning at me.
He was shirtless and wearing a pair of jeans that were undone.
His hair was a long, ratty mess, and his beard needed a sort out, but it was the happiest I’d seen him looking in years.
I couldn’t help but smile back at the wanker.
“Dude.” He pulled me in as I held my hand out to shake his and slapped me on the back.
“How’s it going, bro? You moving in here permanent or what?”
He sat himself down on the sofa, still smiling. “Na. We’ve been out looking for a new place of our own, but haven’t found anything yet.”
“What, you’re leaving me? I’m heartbroken, seriously heartbroken,” I told him.